Improvement in railway-switches



NiTnn STATES GEORGE I). DAYIS, OF MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA` IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-SWITCHES. i

Speciiioation forming part of Letters Patent No. 146,5 l 6, dated January 20, 1874; applicationlled December 5, 1873.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE D. DAVIS, of Martinsburg, YVest Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Construction and Operation of Railway- Switches; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled j y in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompan yin g drawings, which form part of this speci- "iication, and in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different iigures.

Figure l is a plan view of the rails and apparatus for moving them. Fig. 2 is a side Kiew of the devices, partly in section.

The object of this invention is to furnish a ready means for shifting, and at the same time securing, the movable rails of arailway-switch in position, so that nearly all danger of throwing an engine or car from the track by the i able rails, at their shifting ends, where they form aj unction withthe double way, and extending to a considerable distance upon each side of the track, so -as to form not only a iirm bearing for the ends of the rails, but a base upon which is placed their operating mechanism. The rails B B are attached to each other near their shifting end by a connecting-m130, which clasps the lower part of each rail, and has attached to one of its ends, by a pivoted joint, the connection C', the opposite end of which is pivoted to the lowerl end of the vertical hand-lever l), which oscillates upon a fulcrum-pin, d, which is secured to the vertical post E.

It will thus be apparent that a movement of the hand-lever D to or from the line of rails will produce a corresponding motion in the rails B B. y

Secured to the ends of these rails by a joint of such construction as to admit of a small deviation from a right angle, and which, in the present instance, is shown as a tenon passing through a mortise in the rail, are the sliding.

pieces F and F', resting and moving upon the 4bed-piece A, and retained in position laterally by the guides a a. Two vertical standards, Gr G are iirmly secured to the sliding pieces, and move with them. At the upper end of these standards are pivoted the horizontally-placed levers H and H', and depending from the end of these levers, contiguous to the rails, are the stop-pins I I', guided at their-'lower ends by suitable orifices in the guides b b, and after passing through snugly-fitting holes in the sliding piecesF F', they enter the holes c c in the; bed-piece A, thus holding the rails B B firmly x in their proper position. i

In order to secure the simultaneous action of the stop-pins upon both sides of the track, a lever, K, is placed beneath the track, and provided with a fulcrum-pin at f; also, with connections L L, by which it is attached, at

each end, to the levers H` H'. Thus a movement of one of these last-named levers is at *once communicated to the other, and, through it, to the stop-pin connected thereto.

It will be seen that the lever H extends backward, passing the standard E, and forming a handle, the depression of which will raise both the stop-pins out of the orifices in the bedpiece; but, in order to insure their entering these oriiices when the switch is shifted, automatically, and without demanding attention from the attendant, the springs M M are secured to the standards G and Gr', and press upward against the under side of the levers H; i

H', thus causing them to continually bear downward upon the stop-pins, so that they shalleni ter the gaging-holes in the bed-piece theu stant they come in line therewith. p

Attached to the standard E by a pivot is curved hasp, 7s, which may be made to encir- ,l cle the handle of the lever H, and then, after passing through a staple, g, receive, through a properly-formed hole in its end, the hasp` of 'a padlock, by means of which devices the switch may be permanently locked in juxtaposition with either of the connecting lines of rail.

The operation of these devices is as follows;

- Maele when't is dsirait@ Shiftvltii.

shifting-lever D.; A slight pressure upon the lever H withdraws the stop-pins 'from the gag rsaPatent of the y itelrf'i'omrone line of rails to the other, the 'ahtelidgifn'jf'hi s Y Y- baek the hasp 7u, then place/s" onev Hand 'upon` the lever' H, and, with the other, graspsthe.

y lh brs' F l11nd l1", sliding over openings Ve bed-plate, carrying-pins I I', and operating-levers II H' in combination with the switch-rails and with the lever and rods L K,

as and for thepurpose set'fort-h.

2. The'eombination, with the rails B B, of the bars FF', connected to the rails, and sliding on, .but confined to, the bed-plate, as and setv forthi fwh'ereof' have hereunto set `0th 'dziyof November, 1873.

i. GEORGE D. DAVIS.

ENBoUsoH, HENRY HULL. 

